


Thirteen

by asarahworld



Series: Bigger on the Inside [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Post Regeneration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 14:26:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11534100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asarahworld/pseuds/asarahworld





	Thirteen

The Doctor stood in the TARDIS, shaken. Though regenerating had seemed to be smoother now, in the early stages of his second cycle, it still left him disoriented. Right, he thought, possibly out loud, time to take inventory. The first thing he noticed was a height difference. His last few bodies, most of his bodies in fact, had been around the six-foot mark. This body was most definitely shorter. He ran a hand through his hair, noting that it was longer, possibly the longest it had ever been; he wasn’t certain – after all, he had had fairly long hair early in his eighth body and he had stupidly concluded that he’d regenerated into a woman two bodies ago. His hair was blond, and he smiled. He’d had blond hair twice before, but this hair was smoother and felt much nicer to the touch. His hand moved down to his face. A sharp nose, smooth skin. A younger face. He wondered how long it would stay that way.

Wardrobe, he thought, cuffing his trousers and removing his too-large shoes. His hands were smaller as well, and the Doctor frowned. Getting used to a new body was never easy. Hands disappearing back under his jacket sleeves, shoes in hand, he made his way to the wardrobe to find some clothes that would fit this new body. Glancing into the mirror, he stopped.

So that was why he felt like a stranger in this new body. He raised his hands to his face and watched the woman in the mirror do the same. “Hello, Doctor,” he said, and his voice was higher and the woman in the mirror spoke at the same time.

The Doctor stared at his reflection. Absently, he wondered what Rose would make of this. He hoped, perhaps rather foolishly, that she would approve – but then, hadn’t he thought the same every regeneration since she’d left? He touched a hand to the mirror, and smiled. The face he now knew belonged to him smiled as well.

He hadn’t been a woman before, and he wondered if he truly was one now. His mind felt the same as it ever did and he knew, from a multitude of studies on various planets, including Gallifrey, that how one identified their gender was in their mind. But if his brain chemistry hadn’t changed, then perhaps, though he outwardly looked like a woman, he was still a man. Most Time Lords had changed sexes at least once (the Master came to mind immediately, followed by Rassilon), but he’d never come across anything that discussed gender identity in Time Lords. The Master had seemed to embrace her regeneration into a woman, seemingly without any of the questioning that he appeared to have. She’d worn dresses and corsets, with her hair elaborately arranged – but the Master had always had a flair for the dramatic.

He’d explore this, he decided. Right now, he still felt like the Doctor. And that was what mattered.


End file.
